of winter corn and those of oats, barley, or similar late sown crops of summer corn. Sowing the summer corn (especially oats and barley) as early as possible. [Illustration: FIG. 120.—The Frit Fly (_Oscinis frit_, L.): A, larva; B, pupa; C, fly; D, a diseased corn plant, as appearing in spring,—the larvæ and pupæ are seen of the natural size in the lower part of the plant. ] Family: =Syrphidæ= (_Hover_ or _Hawk Flies_). Chiefly includes brightly coloured flies, marked with yellow or red and black bands or patches (Fig. 67), and flying rapidly with a buzzing noise. They can remain suspended at the same point in the air by moving their wings up and down with great rapidity. A few of them resemble the humblebee in their thick covering of hair; others, with yellow and black abdomen, look like wasps (_Syrphus_). The proboscis is adapted for sucking, but not for piercing; these flies suck their food from flowers. They are fond of hovering in the air in sunny places. The legless larvæ vary, according to species, in their habits, and consequently in their structure. Some (those of the =Drone Flies=, _Eristalis_) live in stagnant water; others (_e.g._ those of _Eumerus lunulatus_) live in onions, which they hollow out; while some, again, develop in rotten wood, etc. The maggots of the =Aphis-eating Flies= (_Syrphus_), however, feed on insects, chiefly aphides, which they suck out completely. They are elongated, tapering in front, thickened behind, move like leeches, and vary much in colour (green, yellow, brown, chequered), according to the species. As they grow quickly, and consequently more than one generation is found each year, and as they are very voracious, we must look upon them as powerful allies for the extermination of aphides. Family: =Stomoxydæ= (_Stable Flies_). In many points the stable flies resemble ordinary flies, but their mouths are adapted for piercing. Their painful bites make them known to every one as pests to human beings and cattle. Here belongs the common =Stable Fly= (_Stomoxys calcitrans_), a form often confounded with the house fly, but distinguished from it by a sharp proboscis projecting at right angles, besides which the abdomen is more of a yellowish grey. The maggots usually live in dung. Two generations yearly: the first flies about in March; the second, and much more numerous one, in August and September. _Remedies_: Cp. p. 165. Family: =Œstridæ= (_Bot Flies_).